A Peter Lenkov CBS drama reboot was the highest rated series on Friday for a third straight week. The last two Fridays, it was newcomer MacGyver but this time, it was veteran Hawaii Five-0, now in its seventh season.
The famous title got viewers in the door for MacGyver — it opened as the highest-rated and most watched program on Premiere Friday with a 1.7 rating in Live+same day adults 18-49 and 10.9 million viewers. It has been slipping since, dropping -0.3 in the demo in the Week 2 fast nationals and another -0.3 in Week 3, logging 1.1 in 18-49 and 8.2 million viewers last night. In the demo, that is down -35% from the debut. (Last week, MacGyver was adjusted down in the finals from 1.4 to 1.3 in 18-49 for a deeper Week 2 drop of -0.4. We will update with this week’s finals to see if the newbie will hold at a 1.1)
While the novelty of MacGyver may be be wearing off (or the poor reviews may be catching up with it), the rest of the CBS Friday drama lineup has been rock solid this fall. Possibly aided by MacGyver as a compatible lead-in, Hawaii Five-0 has been incredibly consistent, posting a 1.3 in the fast nationals 18-49 ratings for a third consecutive week. This time, it was good enough for first place on the night. In total viewers, Hawaii Five-0 was edged by 10 PM drama Blue Bloods (9.68 million vs. 9.61 million) for the top spot. The Tom Selleck cop family drama slipped a -0.1 from last week to post a 1.2 in 18-49 after two weeks at 1.3. CBS won the night in total viewers and the demo.
Not much to say about Fox’s The Exorcist, which logged a pretty dreadful 0.7 in 18-49 last night. Believe it or not, there could be an upside — if the number holds in the finals, the horror reboot would be actually up week to week. In its second outing, The Exorcist logged a 0.7 in the fast nationals, which was adjusted down to a 0.6 in the finals. Neither is a number that could keep a Big 4 network show on the air for the long haul.
The Exorcist‘s lead-in, Hell’s Kitchen (1.0) held steady, as did ABC’s Last Man Standing (1.1) and Shark Tank (1.1), while ABC’s sophomore Dr. Ken (0.9) rebounded, up a tenth to its season premiere level after a Week 2 dip.
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